


summer of discovery

by esperink



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Teenagers, Big Bang Challenge, Deceit | Janus Sanders Has a Different Name, Demiboy Deceit | Janus Sanders, Developing Friendships, Gen, Genderfluid Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders, No Romance, Nonbinary Anxiety | Virgil Sanders, Nonbinary Morality | Patton Sanders, Summer Vacation, Trans Logic | Logan Sanders, listen i started writing this before the reveal. not changing it now
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-01
Updated: 2020-09-01
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:13:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 19,711
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26228482
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/esperink/pseuds/esperink
Summary: Patton started the school year with no friends, but by the end of the summer, there were more. They all discovered things about themselves that summer.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 21
Collections: Storytime! 2020





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> this is for the TS Big Bang, Storytime! I had fun developing the fic and developing the characters.
> 
> There is art for this! Which you can find right here. [here](https://easy-meta-knight.tumblr.com/post/627987733489582080/heres-my-ts-storytime-big-bang-art-for)
> 
> (I think it's pretty cool art.)

Patton loved spring. To him, it was much more symbolic of new beginnings than the New Year. The fresh air and the blooming flowers always reminded him of new possibilities, new beginnings.

Which is why, when his teacher introduced a new student, he was quick to offer the empty seat next to him. The girl pursed her lips, most likely at Patton’s enthusiastic nature, but sat down next to him anyway.

“Hi,” Patton whispered, “I’m Patton!” 

The girl side-eyed him before replying, “You can call me V.”

“Nice to meet you, V.” Patton gave her a smile. “Hey, wanna hear a joke?”

“If I must.”

“Okay, okay.” Patton looked around to make sure they weren’t going to distract the teacher or other students. “So during vacation, I was at a hotel, right?” V nodded. “I saw two chess masters in the hotel lobby, and they were bragging about past wins. So they were… chess nuts boasting in an open foyer.” Patton waited for reaction.

V stared at him, and blinked. Once, twice. “Oh my god,” she said.

Patton grinned. “I guess I ought to give myself a… Pat-on the back for that one!”

V sighed softly and covered her face, but Patton could see she was hiding a smile, causing Patton’s grin to widen even more.

Patton could tell they were going to be good friends.

And they were, for the most part. V occasionally would push him away, but he’d always be there for her, and eventually, she learned not to.

Patton always made sure to call her V, because there was something about that. The teacher took roll with V’s legal name, but that was the only time that V ever responded to or acknowledged it. She had asked Patton to call her V, and that’s what Patton was going to do.

He asked her about it, once.

V looked confused for a moment, eyebrows furrowed and looking down. “I… don’t know,” she said. “I don’t really like my name. I know there’s no real reason not to… it’s a nice name.” Now V sounded like she was trying to convince herself that she should like it. She shrugged. “I just… don’t feel comfortable with it? It’s silly…”

“No it’s not,” Patton was quick to reassure. “It’s okay if you don’t like your name even if you don’t really have a reason, you know? You’re not a robot. You can have feelings about the little things.”

His friend gave him a small, almost rueful smile. “I’d like to be,” V admitted.

Patton hummed, and then sat up. “Wait, what’s the difference between an android and a robot?”

“Well, I think robots are sort of a general thing, but the parts of the word android have meaning. The -oid suffix means “shaped as,” and the prefix andro means man. So I suppose androids are just… robots that are shaped like humans?”

Patton gasped in understanding. “That makes sense,” he said, nodding.

It was soon that he had to go home, but he stopped at V’s front door.

“Hey, V?” Patton asked. “If you ever changed your name, what do you think it would be?”

V hummed in thought. “I’m not sure,” she said. “But I think it would start with L. It’s a nice letter.”


	2. Chapter 2

L knocked on Patton’s window in the middle of the night, in early May. Patton was asleep, but he had never been a heavy sleeper. He was the reason everybody in his family was able to go to bed at a reasonable time.

Patton sleepily opened his window, peering out at L. “L?” he asked. “What are you doing here?” Then he shook himself awake. “You’re on the roof!”

“Yes,” L said, seemingly teetering. “I’d like to come in, please.”

Patton opened the window wider and moved out of the way. L managed to crawl inside, rolling onto the carpet with a soft “oof”.

“Not that I don’t love having you over,” Patton said, “but what are you doing here so late?”

L stood and dusted herself off, suddenly shy. “I… had something to tell you.”

“Really?”

“I don’t want to say it now.”

“L, I won’t think any different of you.”

“That’s the thing,” L insisted. “This will require you to think differently of me.” When Patton tilted his head in confusion, L sighed. “I’m… different.”

“Well, I won’t think any less of you.”

L met Patton’s gaze, more worried than Patton had ever seen her. “Do you promise?”

“I promise.” He held out his pinky, linking it with L’s.

L sat up, leaning back, speaking quickly like ripping off a bandaid. “I think I’m trans.”

“Oh.” Then Patton’s eyes widened. “Oh! Okay. Do you… have any specifics about what you want me to call you? Or what not to call you?”

“I… I don’t want to be called a girl anymore. Or ‘she’ or ‘her’. I want to be called a boy and ‘he’ and ‘him,’” L said, biting his lip.

“Okay,” Patton agreed, and L seemed to sag in relief.

“Thank you,” L said quietly.

“Of course,” Patton replied. “What are friends for?”

Patton, the next day at lunch, asked L if he had any ideas for names.

“I don’t know,” L said, stirring his vegetables around in his tray. “I still want a name that starts with an L. That hasn’t changed. My mother and I talked about looking for a name together.”

Patton smiled, at hearing that L’s mother sounded accepting. “Well, that sounds fun,” he said. “Family bonding time.”

“I suppose,” L agreed with a slight nod.

Before either of them could say any more, somebody plopped themselves down right next to L. Patton and L looked over in surprise and curiosity. They recognized him; Roman Prince.

He was pretty well-known, mostly for being active in English class and for begging the school board to give the school a theatre program.

“Hello,” he said. “You’re Patton, right?” he asked, and Patton nodded. Roman then turned to L. “And you’re Vi--”

“L,” L interrupted quickly, leaning back and grimacing at the thought of hearing his birth name, now that he knew exactly who he was. “I’m L.”

“Oh?” Roman said, arching an eyebrow in slight confusion.

L just nodded, changing the subject. “You’re Roman Prince.”

Roman beamed. “Indeed I am,” he replied.

Patton wondered for a moment what someone like Roman Prince was doing sitting next to himself and L. L didn’t seem particularly interested, turning back to his food.

Roman looked like he was pouting at the lack of attention. “So…,” he said. 

“Yes?” Patton asked.

“I just… wanted to meet you two,” Roman said.

Patton gave him a smile. “It’s nice to meet you.”

“I was actually wondering… if you both would like to… hang out, at some point?”

“Why?” L asked, finally actually talking to him.

“Well, there’s no reason  _ not  _ to,” Roman said, with a little shrug. “So how about it? Sanders Park, after school?”

L sighed, but Patton seemed interested, so he agreed to go with him.

“Great,” Roman said, beaming again. “See you there.” He stood up, making finger guns, and walked back to his usual group of friends.

“He seems nice,” Patton said.

They met at Sanders Park, like it had been agreed. L still didn’t seem to trust Roman, but Patton was hopeful. He always loved getting to know new people.

They both sat on the swings, waiting for Roman.

And they waited.

“Maybe he got caught up in something,” Patton said, lightly swinging his legs, as the sun started to set.

“I don’t think that’s it,” L said with a shrug, staring out into the horizon.

Patton frowned a little, also staring out into the horizon. “Oh, someone’s coming!” he said, perking up, noticing a figure. He got off the swing, but L stayed on his.

The figure approached, and it was Roman, looking nervous, almost, as he greeted them with a ‘hello’.

Patton beamed. “You came!” he said, pointedly ignoring how L rolled his eyes.

“Apt observation, Patton,” L muttered.

Roman’s expression fell a moment before saying, “I apologize for my lateness. Something… came up.”

Patton glanced at L. “See? I was right,” he said, but L didn’t look convinced. Patton turned back to Roman. “If you’re alright with saying, what held you up?”

“Ah… friends,” Roman answered vaguely, picking at his nails momentarily. “I had some friends that… prevented me from coming.” L scoffed and Roman frowned at him. “Do you have something to say?”

“It’s just amusing how your excuse is technically true but still wrong,” L said.

Roman huffed. “I’m not going to let some girl—“ he started, but Patton winced and L spoke.

“No.”

Roman furrowed his brow, annoyance forgotten. “What?” he asked.

“I’m not,” L said, hand wrapped around the chain that held up the swing.

“Not what?”

“Some girl.”

Roman quieted in confused thought, and then his eyes widened. “Oh!” he said. “Oh, I’m so sorry, I didn’t know.”

L looked at him. “You are?”

“Well, yes,” Roman said, looking confused at his confusion. “It would seem to me to be… basic decency to refer to one correctly? So I suppose it’s rather… I’m not going to let some guy?” When L nodded he continued, but it lacked the bite it had earlier, “...tell me what is and isn’t an excuse.”

“I think if you had not looked so guilty when arriving, I would believe you more,” L responded.

“Well-!” Roman crossed his arms and blew out a breath. “I-- okay.”

L raised an eyebrow, but Roman didn’t clarify. 

Patton seemed to decide this situation would be made better with a pun. He said, “I think it’s very paw-some of you to accept and respect L’s identity.”

L groaned.

“That doesn’t even make sense!” L said, turning to Patton.

“‘Course it does,” Patton replied with a smile. He pulled his necklace out of his shirt, a dog tag. L sighed, and Patton turned back to Roman. “It’s late, but I guess we’ll see you at school?” He held out his hand to shake.

Roman shook his hand slowly, seemingly still a little confused. Maybe he was confused as to why Patton was so friendly after having to wait so long for him to arrive.

Patton invited Roman to their lunch table the next day. Roman had declined the first few times, but he was never rude about it. It was a week llater when Roman sat himself down across from L and next to Patton (uninvited, actually). But Patton had greeted him affably, and Roman joined them for lunch for many of the days afterwards.

“L’s birthday is soon,” Patton mentioned one day.

L looked puzzled at the casual mention. “How do you even know?” he asked.

Patton smiled. “Your sibling told me last time I was over,” he said, taking a bite of his sandwich.

L sighed and shook his head, while Roman watched them curiously. “Sibling?” he asked.

“Yes,” L replied, not really clarifying or easing Roman’s confusion.

“They said it was in the last week of May!” Patton said. “So which day is it?”

“It doesn’t really matter,” L replied. “A birthday is just another day. All it does is symbolize another year past.”

Patton pouted. “Please, L?” He gave his best puppy dog eyes.

“Can you really ignore the puppy dog eyes?” Roman said, taking a bite of his salad.

L rolled his eyes. “Fine, if you must know, it’s May 29th.”

Patton grinned. He clasped his hands. “I can’t wait.”

“You better not be planning anything,” L warned. 

“You can’t prove anything,” Patton said, hiding his smile in his food.

L sighed. “I’m going to make Remy regret this.”

Patton pouted again. “They don’t mean anything by it.”

“Oh, they certainly do.”

Roman watched them go back and forth, head resting on his fist. He’d only sat with them for six days, in total. Patton’s and L’s friendship was interesting, he thought. They weren’t noticed by the majority of the school, so there was no societal pressure. No outside forces could seemingly part them.

He wondered what that was like, as he glanced over to his usual table.

Of course, they had been noticed a little, if only by Roman and his own friends. It was the whole reason Roman had introduced himself in the first place. It was a silly and mean dare, and he hadn’t ended up going through with it.

But still, he felt a slight disconnect.

He was brought out of his thoughts by L clearing his throat, seemingly nervous. “Speaking of… personal… details,” he said.

Patton raised a curious eyebrow.

“I’ve… been looking at names and I believe I’ve found one I’m fond of,” L continued. 

Roman leaned forward, elbows on the lunch table and head on his hands. “Do tell,” he said.

L looked at Roman almost cautiously, and, not for the first time, Roman felt like an intruder.

Roman leaned back, holding back a sigh.

“Logan,” L said, decisively. “I think that’s the name I’m going to have.”

“I like it,” Patton said. “It’s a nice name.”

“It’s Irish,” Roman noted. “It means ‘From the Hollow’.”

“I think I like the name even more, then,” Logan said. “How did you know, anyway?”

“I… may have been interested in… helping.” Roman looked down at his nails like he didn’t care that much.

“Well, I think it’s sweet,” Patton said.

“I can’t disagree with that,” Logan said. Roman looked up, smiling.


	3. Chapter 3

The day of Logan’s birthday, Patton took Roman to Logan’s house. Logan was out, he said, and he had conspired with Remy, Logan’s sibling, to do something of a surprise birthday. It would just be them and Logan’s family, but it still sounded fun to Patton.

“I’ll be right back!” Patton said, rushing off to the kitchen and leaving Roman alone.

Well, not totally alone. Someone else had just arrived.

This person looked Roman over with a critical eye, but Roman just looked back. “You must be Roman,” they said, and they held out a hand to shake.

“I am,” Roman said, shaking the person’s hand. He sifted through what information he knew. “Are you Remy?”

“The one and only Remy Dormir, at your service,” Remy said with an almost sarcastic bow, mirth in their eyes behind their sunglasses.

Roman tilted his head. “Dormir?”

Remy smiled, showing teeth. “Adopted,” they said.

“Oh,” Roman said, nodding. He paused.

“You have questions,” Remy said, lifting their glasses up. Light reflected on metallic pink and yellow tape.

“Is that why Patton called you Logan’s sibling?” Roman blurted.

Remy cocked their head, clearly trying to find the connection. “Oh, no, hun, that’s a whole ‘nother matter. I’m sure Logan would love to call me his brother or sister or whatever-” They waved a hand- “but that ain’t me.”

“I’m not sure I follow.”

“Hm. You ever hear of genderfluid?”

Roman shook his head slowly. 

“Well, it’s the reason for this tape, see,” Remy explained, taking off their sunglasses and pointing at the colored tape. “Well, not all genderfluid people change their pronouns when their gender changes, but I do.”

“Your gender changes more than once?” Remy nodded with a “mhm”. “Why would you do that?”

“Well, it’s not something I choose, kid.” They paused. “Though, if I could, maybe I would, because I’m just too awesome to be contained into one gender.” They grinned, and for some reason it struck Roman that maybe it was odd for Remy to be so happy with what they were.

“So you go from being a boy to a girl and then back to a boy and it’s just sort of a… cycle?” 

Remy hummed, tilting their head to the side for only a moment. “It’s a bit more complicated than that, babe, it’s—“

They were interrupted by a hand placed on Roman’s shoulder. Roman turned to see that the hand belonged to Patton.

Patton smiled at him. “Logan’s almost here,” he said, and Roman nodded, so Patton left him to make sure everything was in its place.

Roman turned back around to Remy, to listen more to what they had to say, but they had seemingly disappeared, maybe to do as Patton was doing.

Roman set down his bookbag on the roots of the tree Patton and Logan were sitting in, looking contemplative. “Everything okay down there?” Patton asked from one of the higher branches of the tree. 

“I’m not… totally sure,” Roman admitted. “I’ve just been thinking about some things.”

“Such as?” Logan asked from one of the lower branches.

“Like… about your sibling.” Roman sat on the roots instead of climbing up and joining the other two boys. Logan looked down at him, tilting his head and squinting at him. “Not anything bad!” Roman hurried to say. “Maybe just something… weird.”

“What’s weird about them?”

“Like… isn’t it weird that their gender just changes whenever?”

Logan frowned now, crossing his arms, and Roman felt he said something wrong, that Logan was going to get defensive.

Roman figured he needed to learn to speak without saying anything offensive, for once. He hesitated, feeling like he was always saying something wrong. “Not that it’s very weird. It’s just a little… odd.”

“Okay?”

Roman covered his face. “I’m not saying things right.”

He heard rustling from the tree, and Patton stood next to him now. “What are you trying to say?” Patton asked.

Roman looked up from his hands. Logan looked less annoyed and more curious now, and Patton looked like he was trying to be supportive.

“Well… like, how do they know their gender changes?” Roman asked, more to Logan this time.

“I…” Logan looked contemplative himself now. “I think that’s something you’ll have to ask them personally.”

“Would I be able to?”

“If you join Patton and I today after school, most likely.”

Roman hesitated again. Would he be welcome? He didn’t know. Sometimes he still felt like he was intruding. “Okay, if you two don’t mind,” he said.

“It’ll probably be fun to have another person with us,” Patton said, smiling. “It’s usually just me and Logan.”

“You don’t have any other friends?”

Logan glanced around like he was searching for these other friends. “Does it look like we do?” he asked, almost deadpan.

Roman also glanced around. “I guess not.”

“You can meet us after school at this tree,” Logan continued. “We’ll walk, and then afterwards, you can leave.”

“Alright,” Roman agreed.

They met at the tree. They didn’t really worry about Roman not showing up this time, if he wanted to talk to Remy.

“I’m here,” Roman said, waving at the two that were standing next to the tree.

“Well, that’s better than last time,” Logan commented.

“Yeah… sorry,” Roman said, rubbing the back of his neck. “Uh… it won’t happen again.”

Logan just hummed, like he wasn’t quite sure he believed him, but said nothing.

Patton kept up the chatter as they walked.

They arrived at Logan’s house, and it looked pretty much the same it had when Roman had come over for Logan’s birthday. Roman kept quiet, though, as they entered.

“Hey, lil bro,” Remy said from the kitchen counter.

Logan greeted them with a wave, but then gestured to Roman. “Roman wanted to ask you some questions,” he said.

Remy raised an eyebrow. “Me specifically?”

“About your genderfluidity,” Logan explained, and Remy nodded with an ‘ah’. 

“What sort of thing did you want to know?” Remy asked Roman, who looked a lot more uncertain now that he was actually going to be talking to Remy.

“Um… just…,” Roman said, clearly a little lost for words.

Remy tilted their head, a sympathetic look on their face. “Hey, why don’t you two… go do whatever it is you usually do when you get here?” they said, addressing Logan and Patton.

Logan hummed, squinting just slightly at the two. “Alright,” he said, and he led Patton to his room.

“What do you think they’re talking about?” Patton asked as he sat down on Logan’s bed. 

“About Remy’s genderfluidity, probably,” Logan replied, taking out his chess board.

“Yeah, but… why do you think Roman’s interested in it?” Patton sat on the floor, in front of where Logan placed the board.

“Perhaps… just to understand,” Logan mused, pausing in setting up the chess pieces. “Which is actually not a bad thing, to try to understand other people.”

Patton nodded, starting to set up the black chess pieces.

They had been playing chess for about a half hour when there was a knock. Remy peeked in. “Hey,” they said, “Roman’s done with questions… Do you want Roman to hang out with you guys?”

Patton and Logan glanced at each other. “Why not?” Patton said, smiling and waving as Roman walked in. Roman waved back, seemingly nervous.

“What about chess?” Logan asked Patton.

“We can still do that,” Patton said, “it just might take a little longer.” He jumped up and pulled Roman more in the room. “What do you want to do?”

“Isn’t this my house?”

Patton stopped, biting his lip and suddenly bashful. “Sorry,” he said. “Uh, what do you want to do?”

Logan himself paused. He looked at Roman. He was a guest, albeit a little unexpected. “Do you have any ideas?”

“Not really,” Roman admitted.

Logan hummed, standing up and moving towards his desk. “I have a deck of cards,” he offered, digging through some drawers. “Do you know any card games?”

“Uh…”

Logan just smiled. “I can teach you poker.”

“Poker?” Roman leaned forward. Logan might be a bit more interesting than Roman initially thought.

Logan started setting cards up. He looked curiously up at Roman now, though. “What did you and Remy talk about?” he asked, noting how much the question sounded like it would come from Patton. Maybe they were spending too much time together.

“Uh… gender stuff,” Roman answered.

“Well, obviously,” Logan said, but he left it alone otherwise.   



	4. Chapter 4

It was the last day of school now, and Patton, Logan, and Roman sat on the bleachers as they watched other students filter out of the doors.

“Hey,” Patton said, “does… anyone wanna hang out during the summer?” He looked over at his friends, like he was uncertain if they’d actually want that.

“Well, sure,” Roman said, with Logan nodding.

Patton lit up. “Oh, really?” He clasped his hands, almost excitedly. “Nobody’s ever said that before.”

“Why not?” Logan asked.

Patton went quiet, his hands in his lap. “I don’t know,” he admitted. 

“Well, it’s their loss,” Roman said,

“You think so?” Patton looked at Logan too, and Logan nodded. Patton beamed, hugging them both. “You guys are the best!”

Roman smiled but hesitated. “Hey, what would you guys say if I… well, wasn’t one? All the time?” At their confused glances, Roman clarified, “A guy.”

“If you weren’t a guy all the time?” Patton asked, and Roman nodded. “Why do you ask?”

“Um…”

“Oh, is that why you were asking Remy questions?” Logan asked. Roman nodded. “I think it would be obvious we wouldn’t have a problem with it. Right, Patton?” Logan looked over to Patton, who nodded.

“I appreciate you telling us, though,” Patton said, hands still clasped. “Are you pronouns going to be changing too?”

“I don’t know yet,” Roman said. “Do you think it’s possible…” There was hesitation, and Roman stopped, head shaking. “Never mind, it’s… a bit silly.”

“I love silly things,” Patton said with a smile. “But nothing will be too silly for it to not matter. If it matters to you, it matters to me.”

“Okay,” Roman said, hesitating again. “Do you think you guys could… not use pronouns for me for a bit?”

“Sure thing.”

“I would be willing to try as well,” Logan said.

Roman smiled, seeming to relax, relieved. “Good, thanks,” Roman said.

“What are friends for?” Patton asked, smiling, causing Roman to smile in return.

Roman did eventually start using pronouns again, though they varied. Sometimes they’d use a simple they, or she, or the more occasional he. Roman would always make sure their friends knew, of course, and nobody complained.

“So I’ve been thinking,” Roman said, laying across Patton’s lap on the couch in Patton’s house.

“Mm?” Patton and Logan said at the same time, focused on their chess game.

“Remy has tape on their sunglasses right? To show what pronouns they’re using at the time.”

“Right,” Logan said, looking up from the board.

“I want to do something like that. For my pronouns.”

“What do you have in mind?”

“I don’t know yet,” Roman admitted. “But something cool. Maybe something to do with my hair.”

“Your… hair?”

Roman nodded.

“That seems a bit tedious,” Logan said.

“Like, I could dye it--”

“That would definitely ruin your hair.”

“I mean just a little part! Like.” Roman measured out a few strands of their hair to show Logan.

“Still.”

“What if you used hair extensions?” Patton asked, speaking up after moving one of his knights, showing that he was indeed listening in.

“Ooh,” Roman said, seemingly satisfied with that idea. “I do like that.”

Patton smiled, looking up from the board. Logan moved a piece and Patton’s attention returned to their chess game.

“What colors, though?” Roman hummed. 

“Maybe something unexpected. That might be fun.”

“It might be,” Roman agreed, sitting up and nearly disturbing the chess board. Both Logan and Patton frowned slightly. “Oops.”

Logan picked up any pieces that had fallen, putting them back where they were before. He turned to Roman. “What do you have in mind?”

“Mostly colors I like. Purple, green, blue. Maybe orange or red on those days I’m not sure.” Roman sat up, excitedly. “I could order a set online!”

“You could,” Logan agreed, “but what do the colors mean?”

Roman hummed, thinking. They stood up and walked around for a few moments. “Purple for she/her. Green for he/him. And… what do you think I should do for they/them?”

“Blue!” Patton said. “Break those gender norms.” He giggled.

Roman nodded, writing this down. “I like that.”


	5. Chapter 5

“Wanna go exploring?” Patton asked one day as they all hung out at his house.

“I’m always up for an adventure,” Roman said, standing up. “Unless…” They said the last word in a mixture of mocking and teasing, looking over at Logan.

Logan rolled his eyes, closing his book and putting his hair up in a ponytail with the hair tie that resided on his wrist as he stood as well. “I would not mind walking,” he said.

“It’s not just walking, Specs!” Roman said with a scoff. “It’s an adventure! A quest of sorts!”

Logan adjusted his glasses. “Quests are typically defined as a search for something in particular.”

“We  _ are  _ searching for something,” Roman insisted. “It’s just that…” They looked to Patton for help, who just shrugged with a small smile. “...we don't know... what it is yet…”

Logan just shook his head, but this time fondly. “I’ll be back shortly,” he said, taking his binder from his backpack to the bathroom with him.

Not too long after, the trio left the house. They first started exploring the city in general, but that proved to be not exciting enough for Roman, so the group then started exploring the lesser known areas.

“I think we’re getting too close to the woods, guys,” Patton said, looking up at the trees with a slight frown. 

“Nonsense,” Roman said, pushing past him and walking forwards. Patton and Logan glanced at each other and followed.

They eventually came to a house. Not just any house, really. It looked abandoned, for the most part. Like it never got finished, never got a chance to hold residents.

The trio stared up at it. It was two stories, and had lots of windows, and only one door at the front, which was reasonable.

Patton thought he saw something inside, but then one of the windows slammed shut, and he jumped at the sudden noise. “Is someone in there, do you think?” he asked his friends.

“Well, if there is, they’re hogging all the shade,” Roman said, walking up to the door. They threw the door open, and called “Hello? Anyone home?”

The slamming of a door answered them.

Roman scoffed lightly, muttering, “Rude.”

“Whoever it is, they probably want to be left alone, Roman,” Logan said.

“Well, it’s not like it’s their house, is it?”

“Just because it looks—“

“It doesn’t even look like anyone lives here!”

“I was just saying—“

As they bickered, Patton bit his lip and glanced around. They must have stepped inside as Logan and Roman were speaking. Nobody noticed that the slammed door had opened, or Patton wouldn’t have made such a surprised sound at the pair of eyes that peered over the railing of the stairs.

“Oh, it appears that someone is home after all,” Roman said, looking over to where Patton had been staring.

“Yeah, now get out,” the boy on the stairs said with a glare.

“Does this house belong to you?”

“Sure, just get out.”

“I doubt that,” Roman said, crossing their arms.

The boy bristled. “Whatever,” he said. “Just stay out of my way.”

“Whatever you say, Count Woe-laf,” Roman said with a sigh.

The boy glanced over at Roman’s companions, scanning over Patton and Logan almost critically. Then he turned and went back to where he came from, slamming the door again.

“I’m not sure we should stay here,” Patton said, a little uneasy. 

“Don’t worry,” Roman assured him, “if anything happens, I’ll protect you.” They smiled at him and started walking around the house.

When they left later, a few hours later, Patton felt like someone was watching them. He looked back up at one of the windows, from outside the house, and saw the boy watching from one. Patton tilted his head, lifting a hand to wave at the stranger, but the boy simply moved away from the window at the gesture. Patton frowned a little.

They went back to the house during the next few days. It was almost easy, to forget that there was an extra person in the house, since he didn’t really approach them.

The trio hung out there, talking and sometimes bringing things over to entertain them. It was nice, to have a place away from home to go and to have fun. It was like having a place all to themselves.

They arrived early one day, for a reason Patton couldn’t remember, and the house felt emptier than usual. He wandered around, trying to figure out why, and then realized that he hadn’t seen the other boy yet. He’d usually hear him walking around, but there was nothing.

It only took a few minutes for the other to actually arrive, and he largely ignored Roman, Logan, and Patton as they sat against a wall, going through a few different types of books checked out from the library. Patton got up, leaving Roman and Logan, and started to walk towards the door the boy had gone through.

“Patton?” Logan asked.

Patton stared at the door, pausing. “I wanna go check on him,” he said.

“Why?” Roman asked. “It’s not like we know him, or that he knows us.”

Patton shrugged, but he went upstairs anyway, setting a hand on the door knob of the door the boy had disappeared behind. He opened the door, after giving two quick knocks.

He heard sniffling and scattered breathing. “Hey?” he said. “Is… are you okay?”

The boy looked up from where he sat against a wall. His eyes were slightly red. “Go away,” he said, turning away. 

“What’s wrong?” Patton asked.

“What’s it to you?” the boy demanded. “It’s none of your business. Don’t act like we’re friends and that you care.”

Patton was a little taken aback. “I care.”

The boy frowned at him, but turned away again. He picked at the gloves he was wearing, at the long sleeves which made Patton wonder why he was wearing them in the summer.

“I’m Patton,” Patton tried.

“Do you actually think introducing yourself will get you my name?”

Patton bit his lip. “I guess you don’t have to give me your name.” He shrugged. “That’s fine. Just thought it’d be nice for you to know at least someone here, and know that I’m here if you wanna talk.”

“You don’t even know me.”

“I’m open to the opportunity to.”

The boy looked over at Patton again before turning away one last time.

Patton hesitated, but then left the room, going back to sit down with his friends.

“So, how’d it go?” Roman asked, picking up another book and seemingly deciding on reading it.

“Well… he didn’t yell at me, at least,” Patton replied, sitting down next to Logan. “He didn’t want to talk to me, though.” He picked up a book about plants and skimmed through it. 

“To be quite fair, we are on his, how do you say, ‘turf’,” Logan said. He was looking through a book about the solar system. 

Roman shrugged. “He just said to stay out of his way and that’s what we’re doing,” Roman said. “I mean, before you decided to go talk to him.”

“I guess,” Patton said, glancing over at the door the boy was behind before focusing on his book.

Two days later, while Patton was doing a puzzle with Roman and Logan, the boy approached. The trio looked up from their activity.

The approach was very slow and cautious, and when the trio had looked up, the boy shifted from foot to foot, resolutely looking only at Patton. He chewed on his lip, like he was trying to solve something. Finally he walked forward and leaned to whisper something into Patton’s ear, a name.

He pulled away and stood, sparing the other two a glance before turning and walking away, going back upstairs as usual.

Patton smiled.

“What did he say to you?” Roman asked.

“I don’t think I’m supposed to say it,” Patton said earnestly. “He kind of made it a little obvious he didn’t want you or Logan hearing it.”

“Aren’t you also curious?” Roman asked Logan, who shrugged.

“Maybe a little, but not to the point of getting Patton to break any trust he got from the boy,” Logan said. Roman pouted, but he let it go.

Near the end of the day Patton walked upstairs to see the boy. Ethan. That was the name that had been whispered in his ear, and he figured that it was probably his name. 

Patton knocked on the door where Ethan usually stayed, opening it after a moment and peeking his head in. Ethan was coloring on something. With his arms in a protective wall around him, Patton couldn’t tell if Ethan was coloring on paper or actually the floor.

“Hey?” Patton said.

Ethan looked up, not moving from his spot. “What?” he asked, frowning slightly.

“Do you wanna come to the picnic tomorrow?”

Ethan looked just plain confused now, not frowning anymore. “What?”

“We’re having a picnic tomorrow. Do you wanna come?”

Ethan hesitated. “Where is it?”

“In the forest. Not too far from here,” Patton said, pointing in the general direction.

“I don’t think your friends would take too kindly to you inviting me,” Ethan said with a little scoff. “Why would you want to invite me, anyway?”

Patton shrugged sincerely. “I wanna be your friend.”

Ethan frowned at him again, squinting like he was expecting a joke or something. Then he shrugged, too. “I’ll think about it.”


	6. Chapter 6

The next day when Patton arrived with his friends, Ethan was waiting outside.

“You’re usually in that room,” Roman commented offhandedly. “Why aren’t you right now?”

“Way to make a guy feel welcome,” Ethan murmured. “Patton invited me to your picnic.”

Roman looked at Patton in askance, and Patton nodded. 

“Well, alright then,” Roman said. “And we’re off!” They started walking towards the woods, with Logan and Patton trailing behind them, and Ethan behind Patton.

The forest provided some shade, and for that, the group was thankful. They didn’t walk too far into the forest, putting the blanket down after only a few minutes.

“Oh, I forgot,” Patton said, turning to Ethan. “Do you have any allergies?”

“No,” Ethan replied.

“That’s good.” Patton smiled and opened the large picnic basket he had brought. He, Roman, and Logan had prepared it that morning.

Roman leaned back and looked at Ethan. “So,” they said. “What’s your name?”

“What’s it to you?” Ethan asked.

“I mean, I think it’s just polite to give your name when you’re eating others’ food.”

Ethan frowned and set down his sandwich.

“Roman,” Patton said. “I invited him. So it’s fine.”

Roman gestured. “I’m just--”

“I don’t have to tell anyone anything,” Ethan said, scooting backwards and away from the picnic.

“No, wait,” Patton pleaded quickly.

“It’s… whatever.” Ethan waved a hand dismissively, standing up. Patton bit his lip as he walked away.

Ethan came back, a few minutes later, head down and face red. “I don’t actually know my way out of here.”

“I’ll show you the way,” Patton offered.

Ethan nodded, but then he sighed and looked at Roman and Logan. “If you want to know my name so much, it’s Theodore.”

Wait, that wasn’t right. Patton looked at Ethan -- or was it Theodore? -- feeling a little lost and confused. But Patton saw that he was smirking, like he was playing a game, so he stayed quiet.

“Theodore,” Roman repeated, nodding slowly to themself. “See, was that so hard?”

Ethan rolled his eyes, smirk gone and annoyance back. “Whatever,” he said, turning to Patton.

“Right this way,” Patton said, leading the way. Ethan followed him. “I’m sorry about Roman,” he added.

“Your friend needs to learn a thing or two about manners,” Ethan commented.

“Yeah, well.” Patton sighed a little. “Sorry, still. I guess they’re just really curious about your name.” Ethan shrugged. “Is it actually Theodore, by the way?”

“Nope,” Ethan said, smirking again and shaking his head.

“So… you’re just messing with them?”

Ethan rolled his eyes to the sky in thought, then nodded. “Pretty much.”

“But…”

“Look, if they’re so eager to hear a name, I’ll give them one.”

Patton hummed. “So your name really is actually Ethan?” he asked.

“Something like that,” Ethan agreed, which just confused Patton further. 

They arrived at the house, stopping at the door.

“I’ll… see you later, I guess,” Ethan said, waving and going inside.

Patton just nodded and turned around to go back to the picnic.

A few days after that, Patton saw Ethan again, in the house. Roman even greeted him. “Hello, Theodore,” Roman said.

At this Ethan smirked. “Who’s Theodore? The name’s Henry.”

“Wh--”

Patton had to admit… it was a little amusing.

Ethan kept this up for about a week. Roman just seemed to be getting more and more frustrated, until Ethan was laughing.

“You’re so rude!” Roman said.

“I think it’s more rude to demand someone’s name when they clearly don’t want to give it,” Ethan replied with a shrug. 

Roman huffed. “Fine, I’m… sorry I guess.”

“I”ll take it,” Ethan said.

“Will you two get along now?” Patton asked, hopefully.

“Not a chance,” Ethan said, going to his room.

Patton looked at Roman, then to Logan, for help. Logan didn’t seem to know what to do about the situation either, though.

Patton sat down next to Logan, leaning against the wall and trying to think.

The hostility in the house didn’t last more than a few days. Roman and Ethan eventually got along on their own terms. Roman was complaining about something, and Patton saw movement from the corner of his eye, so he glanced up and saw that Ethan was watching the group, or, more specifically, Roman, as he gestured and spoke.

Roman eventually noticed Ethan watching, too, going quiet when he did. “Is there something you need?” he asked.

Ethan shifted as he got more comfortable behind the rail of the stairs. “You talking about Newsies?” he asked.

Roman’s eyes lit up and Ethan’s question. “Oh, absolutely! Have you seen it?”

“The movie… I would really like to see it in person, though.”

“Oh, me too. I don’t know if I’d ever get the money to, though.”

Patton and Logan exchanged glances. It worked out after all.

Ethan did eventually end up introducing himself. He had been interacting with the trio a fair bit more, since Roman’s and Ethan’s mutual love for theater had been recognized. He had gone up to them, looked at each one of them, and said, “My name’s Ethan.”

Roman had, of course, lit up. Logan had reacted in a more neutral way, with a nod. When Roman opened her mouth to say something, Ethan quickly followed up with, “Don’t make a big deal about it or anything.”

“Very well,” Roman said.

“In fact,” Ethan continued, “just pretend I never said it. You know, that would be great.”

Roman frowned, head tilted. “Did you really want us to not know your name that much?”

“I’m not a fan of it,” Ethan said, rubbing his arm. 

“We will try our best not to mention it, then,” Logan said, not usually the reassuring one, to assure him.

Most of the tension left Ethan. “Well, good,” he said, before turning and going upstairs to the room he used to hang out in.

Patton wondered why he’d gone back to the room. Ethan had been spending a little more time with the trio, at least lately, so it seemed a little odd to have one less person in the room with them.

“Do you think he’s okay?” Patton asked his friends.

“He’s just told us his name,” Logan reasoned. “That’s a big step. He probably just needs time to himself, to process it.”

That made sense.

Ethan did come back down later. Roman was talking about something, and was very into it, so Ethan wasn’t noticed until Roman turned around, making a very surprised noise when Ethan happened to be right behind.

Ethan smirked a little.

“That’s not funny,” Roman said.

“Is to me,” Ethan said with a shrug. He stopped smirking. “Your hair,” he said, slowly and carefully, like it was a topic he’d been thinking about.

“My… hair?” Roman only looked confused.

“Yeah,” Ethan said, taking a few strands of his own hair in his hand, indicating the part of Roman’s hair he was talking about. “Why do you change it?”

“Oh,” Roman said, understanding now. “I’m uh…” Roman now suddenly seemed shy. “It’s for my pronouns. They change sometimes.”

Ethan squinted. “Why?”

“Because my gender changes sometimes? I’m genderfluid.”

Ethan only hm’d. For the moment, he seemed satisfied.

Later, he’d asked, “How’d you find out?”

Roman explained that there had been a conversation with Logan’s sibling, and Ethan seemed a fair bit more interested, asking more questions, and talking more than Patton had ever seen him speak.


	7. Chapter 7

Not every day was spent at the house. Sometimes Patton, Roman, and Logan would explore their city. They had all lived there for years, but sometimes they could find something new or something they had never noticed, or if that wasn’t the case, they could always find a shop to check out.

Patton trailed behind Roman and Logan as they walked around a little shop, eye caught by shiny things. He idled near a display, looking at the items.

“Hey, Ro?” he asked, glancing over at his friend.

Roman looked over. “Yes?”

“Could you um… could you ask the worker something for me?”

Roman glanced over at one of the free workers and then back at Patton. “Of course. What?”

Patton bit his lip anxiously. He picked up one of the items that he’d been looking at; makeup. “Could you ask what sort of makeup they’d recommend?”

Roman perked up with a slight smile, nodding and turning to get the attention of one of the employees. Patton felt like hiding behind them, but instead he turned his attention elsewhere, mostly to just listen.

“Oh, well, if she’s just starting out with makeup,” the employee was saying, “I’d recommend something like this…”

“Oh, actually,” Roman said, “this friend is a boy.” The employee made a sound of understanding.

Patton’s heart stuttered when the employee had accidentally referred to him as “she”. He felt warm inside, and on his face.

Roman saying that he was actually a boy had a nearly opposite reaction. His heart dropped instead, and he felt cold. He hugged himself, hoping to warm himself up, which he thought was really strange, because it was in the middle of the summer. 

Patton accidentally tuned Roman and the employee out, staring almost blankly at the stand of makeup now.

“Patton?”

Patton startled, looking up and feeling a hand on his arm. Roman was still chatting with the worker, but Logan was there, looking at him with a tilted head.

“Are you alright?” Logan asked.

“Um… yeah,” Patton said, picking up a bottle of nail polish for something to do, something to look at. HIs face still felt red, but with some deep breaths the feeling subsided. He smiled at Logan. “Did you find what you wanted at the bookstore?”

Logan brightened slightly, nodding. “I did,” he said. Patton gestured for him to go on, so he rambled a bit on what he bought. 

“So the worker suggested these,” Roman said a few minutes later, returning to Patton. “Oh, when did you get here?” they asked Logan.

“About four minutes ago,” Logan replied.

Patton’s interest in makeup faded after a few days, but his feelings about being called “she” and a boy didn’t.

“Hey, Lo?” Patton asked, leaning against the house. It was the end of a day, and Roman had already gone home, saying he needed to be there for something. “Is Remy home?”

“They should be,” Logan responded, glancing at him. “Why?”

“I want to ask them some things,” Patton said simply. Logan seemed to take his words as is, so he just nodded, and when they’d arrived at his house, they found Remy in the living room, playing a video game.

They looked up when the door had opened. “Oh, hey,” they said, quickly returning their eyes to the television.

“Patton has some questions for you,” Logan said without preamble.

“Oh?” Remy raised an eyebrow, pausing their game to look over.

Patton flushed under their sudden attention.

“I”ll be in my room,” Logan said, ducking away.

Patton and Remy watched him go, then turned to each other. Remy had set down their controller, throwing their legs over the armrest of the couch. “So,” they said.

Patton scratched his cheek nervously. “You’re like, a gender expert, right?” he asked.

“I mean… compared to others in this city, yeah,” Remy replied with a shrug of their shoulders. They quirked an eyebrow. “You got a gender problem?”

“Uh… I’m not totally sure,” Patton admitted. “It could just be nothing.” He hugged himself, self-doubting, looking down at the carpet.

“Well, even if it’s nothing, it’s good to make sure, right?” Remy said, lowering their sunglasses to look at her, metallic yellow tape flashing. 

Patton bit his lip, looking back up at Remy. “Yeah,” he said, nodding.

“So.” Remy leaned forward, elbows on their knees. “What’s up?”

Patton hesitated before speaking again. “Roman said I was a boy but it didn’t feel right.”

“What was the context?”

“I asked them to ask a worker something, and the worker said ‘she’ because the worker didn’t know because Roman didn’t mention anything in particular about me.” Patton scratched his head. “So Roman had corrected the worker and said the friend they were asking for was a boy and it made me feel bad.”

“Hmm… how did you feel about the ‘she’, though?” Remy had propped their head on one of their hands.

“I don’t know… I don’t think I felt bad, though,” Patton said, biting his lip. Her lip? Patton wasn’t completely sure anymore.

“Well, that’s something,” Remy said. “Think you’re a girl?”

“I… am not too sure on that either,” Patton answered. “But… oh, I don’t know.” Patton ran hands down his… her face. Their face, maybe. No, ‘her’ felt better. 

“Do you want me to call you a girl?”

That felt heavy on her chest too, just as being called a boy had. “But doesn’t using she/her pronouns mean I’m a girl?”

Remy shook their head. “Nah. Pronouns are like clothes.”

Patton waited for them to elaborate.

“Like, a dude wearing a skirt doesn’t make him… not-a-dude, you know? Just like wearing pants doesn’t make a girl not-a-girl.”

Patton nodded thoughtfully. “Okay,” she said. “So I can have people call me ‘she’ and that doesn’t mean I’m a girl.”

“Correct.”

Patton smiled, though somewhat tentatively. “Okay…”


	8. Chapter 8

“Hey, I have something to say,” Patton said, only a few days later

Roman and Logan looked up.

“Hold on,” Patton said, walking up the stairs to find Ethan. She wanted to tell him, too. She considered him a friend, at least to her. He still sometimes spent time in his room, albeit occasionally. She knocked on the door, opening it and peeking in. “Hey, Ethan?”

Ethan was laying on the floor and staring at the ceiling. He looked over when she said his name, though, saying, “What?”

“Can you come out here real quick? I have something to say.”

He sat up. “What is it?”

Patton tapped her shoes together nervously. “I want to tell everyone at like… the same time.”

Ethan sat up, frowning slightly, but it was mostly in confusion. He got up and followed her out, down to the front room.

Patton waved nervously to her small group of friends. 

“I um, need to update you guys on what to call me,” she started. She looked at all their curious faces. She didn’t know why she was so nervous. After all, most of her friends were very much not cis. Roman wasn’t even really binary, all the time. But Patton grimaced, asking, “Can everyone call me by ‘she’ and ‘her’ from now on?”

Ethan squinted, confusion almost showing. “So does that mean you’re a girl now?” he asked.

Patton repressed a shiver, shaking her head. “I’m not a girl. I don’t… want to be called a girl.”

Ethan’s eyes flickered from one side to the other as he was thinking. “I don’t know what that means.”

“Remy told me pronouns are kind of like clothes.”

“Remy?”

Patton nodded. “Remy Dormir. Logan’s sibling.” She gestured to Logan.

“Sibling,” Ethan repeated, but not in a questioning way.

Patton smiled. “Yeah, they helped me figure it out.”

Ethan simply nodded. Patton glanced between the others, hoping for reactions that at least weren’t negative.

“Yeah, don’t worry about it,” Roman said, and Logan and Ethan nodded in agreement, that the pronoun change was not a problem.

-

Ethan was scowling. It had been a while since he’d properly scowled. It looked a little odd on his face now, Patton thought. 

She sat down next to him. “Are you okay?” she asked.

“I don’t like my name,” he announced.

“You don’t?”

Ethan shook his head, resting his head on one of his knees. “I think I’ll choose a different one.”

“Do you have any ideas?”

Ethan now rested his head on his fist. “I’m thinking something with a D.”

“So shall we call you D for now?” Roman asked.

D seemed to think for a moment before nodding. “I think that will work.”

“That’s what we did with Logan before he found his name,” Patton commented. Logan nodded.

“Would you like any help finding names that you’d prefer?” Logan asked.

D shook his head. 

He did eventually ask for help from Logan, though. But even with his help, it seemed a struggle.

“This is so dumb,” D complained. He was frustrated. Easily frustrated.

“You could just go by ‘D’,” Logan suggested. 

“Just by D?” Ethan frowned.

“Well, if just the letter doesn’t satisfy you, it could be D-E-E.”

“Dee,” D murmured, thoughtfully.

“It’s simple.”

“Simple,” Dee repeated with a nod.

“I’m Dee,” he told the others, later.


	9. Chapter 9

Going barefoot was not an uncommon happenstance. Even Logan sometimes walked without shoes. Roman always claimed that it was too hot to wear shoes, and the other tended to agree, even Dee. 

“I bet you I can run faster than anyone here,” Roman said once.

“How much do you bet?” Dee asked.

“What?”

“How much do you bet you can run faster than anyone else?” There was a slight, challenging smirk on Dee’s face.

Roman paused, thinking and rummaging through the pockets of their shorts. “I’d bet this much,” they said, holding up a handful of bills and coins.

Dee held out his hand, and Roman placed the money in it. Dee counted the money. “That’s twenty bucks,” he said, his eyes widening as he turned to Roman. “Would you really bet twenty bucks on your own speed?” he asked, seriously. 

Roman smiled. “Absolutely.”

Dee stood up and walked to the end of the room, running a hand along the wall thoughtfully. “From here to there,” he said, pointing to the end of the room, and then the area that the group had been sitting. “Patton and Logan can keep track.”

Logan had been watching this exchange, along with Patton, with his hand on a propped up fist. But now he sat up. “What if I also would like to win twenty dollars?” he asked. He’d just recently gotten a haircut, so he seemed in a good mood; a good enough mood to take the challenge.

“Be my guest,” Roman said, plucking their money out of Dee’s hand and giving it to Patton for safekeeping. Then they walked to the end of the room, where Dee had gone. Logan got up and followed suit. 

Patton herself stood, leaning against the wall she was in front of.

“Just tell us when to go and I can prove that I am actually the best at running, and not these two,” Roman said, excited.

“Ready… set… go!”

The three of them set off, hands leaving the opposite wall as they all raced to prove they were the fastest.

That is, until something happened, and Logan stumbled, letting out a sharp sound. He tripped and fell, and held his foot.

The other two stopped almost immediately, hearing the sound of distress. Patton moved from her spot against the wall and to Logan’s side quickly.

“I stepped on something,” Logan said, moving and holding his foot so he could see properly. He instantly turned pale, letting go and covering his mouth. His breathing became quick.

“Oh boy,” Patton said quietly. “We need to call a doctor.”

“We don’t have a phone,” Dee stated.

“Nobody has a phone?” Roman asked, They checked their own pockets, as if suddenly realizing this. “Nobody has a phone.”

“Nobody has a phone,” Patton repeated, a hint of panic in her voice. Why didn’t anybody have a phone? It had never really occurred to her, and they had all managed to find activities to do without phones in the first place. So they hadn’t the need for a phone, until now.

Logan was still breathing fast, but now he spoke up. “Maybe I could walk home to phone a doctor?” he said, voice shaky.

“Walk home?” Roman echoed. “With that foot?”

“Well, I don’t think we have much of a choice,” Logan replied through gritted teeth.

“You guys could carry him,” Dee suggested.

“We’ll have to,” Roman agreed.

“I can still walk,” Logan said. “I just… need some assistance.”

Roman helped him, an arm wrapped around him, and the group started their trek to Logan’s home. Patton led and Dee trailed behind, seemingly nervous.

It took longer than Patton would have liked. She periodically glanced back over her shoulder to check on Logan. He was still a little pale, still a little shaky.

When they’d finally gotten to Logan’s house, Logan pulled out some keys from his pocket. His hands were still shaky, so it was a struggle to unlock the door, until Patton took the keys and did it for him.

“Remy?” Logan called out, once they had situated him 

They all heard footsteps, and Remy appeared behind the couch. “What’s going--” they had started, but stopped when they saw the state of Logan. “What happened?” they asked, moving to kneel in front of their brother.

“We were racing,” Patton said, biting her lip and twisting the hem of her shirt. “And Logan stepped on a nail because we weren’t wearing shoes.”

“It hurts,” Logan complained. “It hurts a lot. We didn’t take it out in case that would make it worse.” His voice was high and still shaky.

“Let’s get you to the hospital, then,” Remy said, helping him get up. They grabbed their car keys and walked with him outside and to the car. After helping Logan into the passenger seat, they got into the driver’s seat and started the car.

“Is he going to be okay?”

It was Dee who had asked, and Remy looked up in surprise at the new voice.

“I don’t recognize you,” Remy said, somewhat curiously. “But he’ll be fine. Just gotta get him nice and fixed up at the hospital.”

Dee nodded and took a step back, letting Remy back out the car. “I’ll let y’all know he’s okay when we get home,” Remy promised.

The remaining three just nodded, watching as Remy drove away.

They stood in the driveway for a few minutes, quiet. Dee bit his lip, shoving his hands in his pockets. “I’m sorry,” he said.

Roman glanced at him. “Sorry?”

Dee nodded, looking down. This was probably the first time any of them had seen him look genuinely apologetic.

“What are you sorry for?” Patton asked.

“I started the race,” Dee answered. “Even though some of us didn’t have shoes on.”

“Well, it’s not like you knew that Logan would step on a nail.”

“No,” Dee said, frowning. “But we were in an unfinished house. And I should have known that it wasn’t safe.”

“It was a simple mistake,” Roman said. “We’ll just have to be safer next time.”

Dee shrugged a little, kicking the ground slightly like a petulant child.

Logan turned out to be fine, like Remy had said. He had to take it easy for a few days, so he had to stay home for a short time. Patton went to the house to tell Dee this.

“Do you still feel guilty?” she asked.

“A little,” Dee said, shrugging. He glanced around. “Where’s Roman?”

“At Logan’s house,” Patton replied offhandedly. “I’m going there too, soon.”

Dee frowned. “Oh.”

Patton nodded and stood. She started to walk to the front door, but then she paused and turned around. “Do you wanna come?”

Dee stopped frowning so much. “Am I allowed to?”

“I think Logan would be alright with that.”

Dee stood up and followed Patton out.

Remy was sitting on the couch next to Logan and Roman. There was a movie on, but everyone looked up when Patton arrived with Dee.

“Oh, it’s you again,” Remy said, with a head tilt. “I never got your name.”

“I never gave it,” Dee replied.

Remy smiled. “That’s fair,” he said. “What’s your name, kid?”

Dee bit his lip, looking at the ground a moment, as if searching for something. “Dee,” he replied.

“Nice to meet you, Dee,” Remy said amiably.


	10. Chapter 10

Dee asked about Remy some days later. Logan had been able to come back to the house they spent time at, but he’d opted to sit down instead of walk around like the group usually would have.

“So your sibling is Remy Dormir, right?” Dee asked.

“Correct,” Logan said.

“And they’re known for being really smart, right?”

Logan tilted his head. “I don’t know if smart is the word, but they are knowledgeable in certain areas.”

Dee hummed. “Are they always at your house?”

“Well, considering they’re my sibling and live there…” Logan raised an eyebrow.

“I know, I mean,” Dee said. “Like, are they usually available to… talk?” When Logan nodded, Dee seemed satisfied with his answer and stopped asking questions.

Roman raised an eyebrow at this exchange, glancing over at Patton, but she didn’t really seem to notice anything out of the ordinary. 

Dee was sitting on the steps of the house when Roman, Patton, and Logan arrived one day. His knees were pulled up to his chest, hugging them, and his yellow gloves were off, as he was picking at his dry skin.

Logan approached him first, sitting next to him on the step. “That is a bad habit to get into,” he said matter-of-factly.

“Yeah well,” Dee mumbled, “too nervous to care.”

Logan tilted his head. “What could you possibly be nervous about?” It wasn’t meant to be mean, Logan genuinely was asking.

“I have something to tell you all… but I’m nervous about the reactions.”

Roman and Patton now approached, likely having heard Dee saying he had to tell them something.

Dee suddenly stopped picking at his skin and bit his lip. He looked up, pulling his gloves on. “I have something to say,” he said in the same matter-of-fact tone Logan had used. “It turns out… that…” His next words were rushed. “I’m not actually cis.”

“I figured,” Roman said.

Dee looked at her. “What?”

Roman looked between everyone. “Did… did no one else figure that out?” She looked back at Dee. “I mean, you wanted to change your name. Granted, cis people can do that, but you also asked about Remy Dormir. I mean, come on. Remy Dormir.”

“Ah, that makes sense,” Logan admitted, nodding as Patton did as well.

Patton smiled as something occurred to her. “None of us are cis,” she said.

“Well!” Dee seemed to sputter. “Just because nobody here is cis doesn’t mean I’ll be accepted.” He stood and dusted the dirt off his pants.

Patton hummed. “Well, maybe. But I thought we seemed pretty accepting.” The group started walking inside and Patton ran up the steps to follow them, catching up with Dee. “Are your pronouns the same?” she asked.

“Oh,” Dee said, like he’d forgotten all about pronouns. “I think I’m going with he/they.”

Patton nodded resolutely.

“Oh, Roman, I almost forgot!” Patton said. “It’s your birthday soon!”

“That would be right,” Roman said, nodding. “Why do you bring it up?”

“We should do something, don’t you think?”

Roman hummed, looking up and thinking. “I’m not sure, actually.”

“Common themes for parties during the summer usually center around pools,” Logan commented.

“I love swimming,” Patton and Roman said at the same time.

“There’s also two different pools in the city,” Logan continued. “The one near Sanders Park is a public pool, but the one near Shady Oaks is somewhat private and requires a fee.”

Roman hummed. “We’ll go with the one near Sanders Park, then,” she said. “It’ll be easier to get into, and I don’t want to bother my father with asking for money.”

“Understandable,” Logan said, nodding and writing down something in a notebook. Dee peeked over his shoulder.

“Can I make a cake?” Patton asked, excited.

“Would you do that?” Roman asked.

She smiled. “I like to bake.”

“I’d like that, then,” Roman said, smiling as well.

Logan looked up from his notebook, glancing back and noticing Dee, who leaned back. He opened his mouth to say something, but then shook his head, returning to his notebook.

Roman and Patton continued to talk, planning, and Dee stayed quiet.


	11. Chapter 11

It was now Roman’s birthday, and Patton held a cake in her hands as she walked, very carefully, over to the Berry family’s car. Logan trailed after her, with a bag of probably necessary stuff, and Remy slid into the driver’s seat. 

Patton and Logan got into the back seats.

Remy looked at them via the rearview mirror. “So, I guess I finally get to see where you all have been hanging out for the past couple weeks, huh?”

“Yep!” Patton said cheerily. 

Remy pulled out of the driveway and drove down the street. “Where have you guys been hanging out, anyway?”

“We’ve been hanging out at this house that we found.”

“Left,” Logan told Remy, so he turned left.

“You found a house?” Remy asked.

“Well, technically, Roman did,” Logan answered, leaning back in his seat. “Patton wanted to go exploring, and Roman… enabled her.”

Patton smiled at him. “But you like hanging out with us, don’t you?” she asked, sincere but knowing.

Logan sighed, but he did smile a little as he admitted, “Yes.”

“Why aren’t we just meeting with Roman at the pool?” Remy asked.

“You know Dee?” Patton asked. “I don’t know if they have a way to get to the pool, so I just wanted to check if he was at the house first.”

“Ah.” Remy nodded. “Makes sense.”

They got to the house, and Patton set aside to cake to get out of the vehicle. She skipped up to the steps, stopping there because Dee was sitting outside, against the front door. “Hi,” she said.

Dee looked up from the ground. “Hi,” they said back, but he didn’t get up.

Patton tilted her head. Dee didn’t have anything different, wearing the same things they always did and not anything suitable for the pool. “Are you ready to go to the pool?”

“I’m not going,” Dee mumbled, pulling his legs closer to themself as he grimaced slightly.

Patton frowned. “But it’s… it’s Roman’s birthday.”

“So?”

Patton hesitated. She looked back at the car, where Logan and Remy were waiting, and then back to Dee. She didn’t quite know what to do, so she stood there for a moment.

“Are you done?”

Patton bit her lip. She took a step back, turned away, and walked back to the car. “They say he’s not coming,” she said, frowning confusedly. 

Logan tilted his head, looking confused as well. “But it’s Roman’s birthday,” he said.

Remy opened the door and stepped out. “Here, let me try,” he said. He walked over to where Dee was sitting, and Logan and Patton watched. 

When Dee looked up when Remy approached, they blushed. Remy said something, and Dee said something back. Remy sat on the steps.

“What do you think they’re talking about?” Patton asked curiously, leaning against the van.

“I don’t know,” Logan said, “but I suppose Remy’s assessing the situation and trying to come up with a solution. He’s good at that.”

Remy had taken off his sunglasses, picking at the blue tape. Dee said something, and Remy laughed. Quite predictably, Dee blushed again. Remy looked like he was saying something a little more serious, and Dee shrugged, but then he nodded. They both stood, but Dee stayed where he was, and Remy made his way back to the van.

“Are they okay?” Patton asked.

“Dee feels kind of left out,” Remy explained.

Patton furrowed her brow, lips twisting in confusion again. “But… we invited them to come with us.”

“But you forgot one important detail,” Remy added, holding up a finger. “You do know why he wears the jacket and gloves, right?”

“Yeah,” Patton said, but she didn’t quite get the connection until Logan opened his mouth and closed it. 

“His skin,” he said, voice full of understanding. “Pool water can be incredibly drying, so I imagine Dee wouldn’t want that… considering their already dry skin.”

“Oh…” Patton bit her lip. “I guess I forgot.” She hadn’t meant to! But now she felt a little bad that she hadn’t properly included Dee in the birthday conversation.

“Not to mention,” Remy added, steepling his fingers for no particular reason, “I’m pretty sure they’re a bit self-conscious about his skin already. Having to put on a bathing suit or swim shorts would probably show more skin than the little dude wants.”

“So what do we do now?” Patton asked.

But then she looked over at Dee, and saw they were approaching.

“If it means so much to Roman,” he began, “maybe I will go to the pool, but just… maybe sit in one of the chairs.”

“Are you sure?” Patton asked, not wanting to make them do things he really didn’t want to do.

Dee nodded, and so everybody got back in the car, with Dee getting in the backseat with Patton and Logan sitting in the front passenger seat.

They arrived at the pool, and the kids clambered out.

“I’ll probably be nearby for a bit if y’all need anything,” Remy said from the driver’s seat, and the trio nodded, making their way to the reserved table where Patton placed her cake.

Roman saw them and waved. They had already been swimming so now they got out of the pool and dried off and walked over. “Hey!” they greeted, beaming at their friends. Their greeting was returned, but when they saw Dee, they tilted their head, just slightly.

“Dee’s skin likely would not react well to the pool water,” Logan explained.

“Oh,” Roman said, looking thoughtful. “Let’s go somewhere else, then!”

Their friends looked at them. “What?” everyone asked.

“If the pool isn’t everyone’s style,” Roman explained, “I know of another place we can spend my birthday.”

Dee frowned. “But it’s your birthday. And you wanted to spend it at the pool.”

Roman just smiled. “Right,” they said, “it’s my birthday. And I want everybody to have fun!” They turned to Logan. “Do you think you could contact Remy and ask if they can drive us elsewhere? Somewhere that… may take a while to get to,” Roman said.

Logan nodded. “I’ll ask him,” he said, and he went off to use the pool phone. 

Dee was quiet, frowning at the ground and looking confused.

“Something wrong, hm?” Roman asked.

Dee hummed, but then shook their head.

Logan came back. “Remy said he’ll pick us up at the entrance,” he told the group, so they all migrated there, Patton also grabbing her cake from the reserved table.

They all got in the van. Patton frowned down at her cake, in her lap. “What about the cake?” she asked.

Roman hummed now. “We could drop it off at my house,” they offered.

Patton decided that was agreeable, so Remy drove to Roman’s house first, with some direction.

“Want to bring it in yourself?” Roman asked when they’d arrived, unbuckling their seatbelt.

“Sure,” Patton said, nodding, so she got out as well and followed them to the door.

When they got in, there was loud music coming from upstairs. Both Roman and Patton looked up at the ceiling, but Roman sighed and said, “Let’s not attract the attention of my brother.”

“You have a brother?” Patton asked.

Roman stopped, like they hadn’t realized they’d never brought a brother up. Like they hadn’t realized that just because they’d had these friends for a few months, doesn’t mean their friends would know about something as simple as a brother.

“Yeah,” Roman said, and they left it at that.

After Roman grabbed their wallet, and Patton set the cake down, Roman grabbed her hand and they ran back out, to the car.

“I brought my wallet,” Roman announced, “so that we can actually get admission.”

“Why didn’t you just ask your father?” Logan asked.

“Didn’t want to bother him,” Roman replied, quieter. Quickly, though, their enthusiasm returned. “But now we can go to the amusement park! It’ll be fun, trust me.”


	12. Chapter 12

The trip to the amusement park took about two hours. Roman apologized about this, but Remy simply waved them off. “I would have been doing nothing all day anyway,” he said. “This is a lot more useful.”

“Do you want to go in the amusement park too?” Roman asked, checking their wallet.

“It sounds fun,” Remy said with a shrug. He glanced up to the rearview mirror to look at them. “Save your money, I’ll pay for me and Logan.”

“But--”

“Nope,” Remy said, shaking his head. “Save your money for games and food and whatever else you want.”

Roman pouted slightly, but acquiesced, choosing now to look out the window. Their eyes were bright as they watched the outside pass by, clearly excited about the amusement park.

Patton smiled a little. “So this amusement park we’re going to,” she said, “do you go to it often?”

“Not as often as we used to,” Roman replied softly. “But, I’ve always enjoyed going. It’ll be fun to finally be able to see it again!”

Patton smiled again.

When they arrived, Remy paid for the parking and parked. They all clambered out of the car, only pausing to let Remy lock the door, and then everyone started walking towards the entrance. The line took a few minutes to get through, but Roman’s enthusiasm never failed, and when they’d gotten to the front, they slammed down money and said, “Three tickets please!”

The clearly tired worker just barely counted the money before handing over three tickets. Remy was buying tickets for himself and Logan the next booth over, and when everyone had gotten their tickets, they pushed through the metal gates and got inside.

Even Logan seemed a little excited.

Once inside, though, Patton noticed Dee looked a little overwhelmed. She started to move towards them, but her movement caught Remy’s eye. “I’ll make sure he’s okay,” Remy told her, and she nodded as she watched Remy fall in line next to Dee. Remy said something to Dee, and everyone pretended that the pink on Dee’s cheeks was from the sun.

They had a lot of fun at the amusement park. Patton and Roman had won prizes. Everyone had gotten a snack, whether it be kettle corn, cotton candy, or funnel cake.

“Hey, Remy?” Roman asked, once everyone was back in the car. “Would you mind driving to one more place?”

Remy hummed in thought. “How far away?”

“Just another half hour, I think.”

“Alright, just tell me the way,” Remy said with a nod, and Roman eagerly pointed the way, giving directions.

At a stoplight, Remy rummaged through the center console for something.

“Remy,” Logan reprimanded.

“Ugh, fine,” Remy said, giving Logan previously worn sunglasses. “Find the yellow tape, will you?”

Logan shook his head slightly, but he did find the yellow tape from the center console, changing the tape on Remy’s sunglasses from blue to yellow before handing the sunglasses back to Remy. Remy put the sunglasses on, pushing them to the top of their head.

This ‘one more place’ turned out to be a candy store, of some sort. Candy store seemed a bit of an understatement. It had a few of its own rides, and more than just candy.

“Oh, I’ve been here before!” Patton said. She looked through the items for sale happily. 

Fudge, candy apples, rock candy… they had everything.

Patton, Logan, and Roman were able to pay for treats of their own, while Remy passed, saying he wasn’t interested in the candy. Dee didn’t get anything, but he didn’t really say anything. Roman saw him eyeing some fudge, so right before the group left they bought a piece of the tiger butter fudge, presenting it to Dee as they arrived at the car.

“A gift, from me,” Roman insisted.

Dee stared at them. “That’s not how that works,” he said.

“What?”

“It’s your birthday. You’re supposed to be getting gifts, not giving them to other people.” Dee frowned, and Roman wondered if they were genuinely upset at the notion of getting a gift instead of giving one.

“I really don’t mind,” Roman tried to assure him.

Dee hesitantly accepted the small package after another moment of silence. “Well… thanks, I guess,” they said.

Roman smiled, nodding with an “of course”.

It was somewhat quiet on the drive back. It seemed that everyone had gotten tired by the end of their day trip. Dee muttered something about maybe admitting that it had actually been a little fun, and Roman just smiled.

“Good,” they said, nodding once and looking out the window from their window seat in the car. “I mean, of course you had fun. I know the best places and I’d bet I make the best company too!” They looked back over to Dee, to discover that he had fallen asleep on Patton’s shoulder.

Patton sat in the middle seat, but it turned out that she had fallen asleep too, her head resting on Dee’s, which was in turn resting on Patton’s shoulder. 

“Hey,” Roman said, grinning and getting the attention of Remy and Logan, who sat in the front seats. They were at a stop light, so Remy adjusted the rearview mirror to see what Roman had wanted while Logan turned slightly in his seat. 

Remy laughed. “That is… absolutely adorable,” they said. They grabbed their phone, but Logan snatched it away, muttering something about “eyes on the road”. So Remy sighed, saying that someone should take a picture.

“I’ll do it!” Roman volunteered, grabbing Remy’s phone from Logan’s hands. Logan sighed, but Roman simply smiled, lifting Remy’s phone to take a picture of the two napping.

Patton stirred slightly, but otherwise stayed asleep, glasses skewed and mouth slightly open. Dee furrowed his brows, turning their head into Patton’s shoulder.

“Well now she just looks silly,” Roman quipped, shaking their head and handing the phone back.

“I’m not sure what you’re expecting from someone who is asleep,” Logan commented from the passenger seat.

Roman put their hands behind their head, watching the two sleeping teens. “Hey, Remy,” they said. When Remy hummed Roman continued. “You know that Dee like, totally has a crush on you, right?”

“Hun, it’s hardly a secret,” Remy said with a little laugh. They looked in the rearview mirror again. “It’s a little cute, honestly.”

“Dee has a crush on Remy?” Logan asked.

“And it seems you’re one of the few that was oblivious to it,” Roman said, leaning back in their seat.

“When was this obvious?”

“Have you really not been watching them interact?”

“Am I supposed to watch every interaction my sibling participates in?”

“Children, children, stop arguing,” Remy teased from the driver’s seat.

Both teens frowned, turned to Remy, and said, at the same time, “I’m not a child!”

Remy’s grin only grew as they kept their eyes on the road.


	13. Chapter 13

Patton couldn’t sleep. She couldn’t sleep, so she left her house as quietly as she could. 

It was a shame she didn’t have any place to go, she thought, before she paused and backtracked. Of course she had a place to go. The house.

It was most likely empty, but that’s okay. Maybe sitting in complete silence would help.

She took the usual twists and turns to get there. But when she had arrived, it looked like one of the rooms had light in it. At second glance, she saw someone on the roof.

At a third glance, she could almost recognize who it was. They were on the roof after all. 

She squinted, and she raised a hand as she called, “Hey, Dee!”

The named teen sat up and looked down at her. They frowned, tilting his head, but they started climbing down. He scaled down the house until they reached one of the windows, slipping in once he’d reached it. Patton arrived at the door just as Dee had, tugging at their gloves as if he had just pulled them on suddenly.

Dee frowned at Patton. “What are you doing here?” they asked.

Patton tilted her head. “What are you?” she asked instead of answering, glancing around. It was mostly dark, with it being so late in the night. She checked her watch. Two in the morning.

“I asked first,” Dee replied, almost defensively.

“I couldn’t sleep.”

“Oh.” Dee watched her for a moment, before turning and going back inside the house, and Patton followed. 

The duo headed upstairs. They would be going up to the roof, Patton realized, as Dee made his way to the same window they had climbed back into.

Dee, unsurprisingly, got back on to the roof with ease. Patton had a little more difficulty, and Dee just watched her, until she looked up and asked, “A little help, please?”

Dee hummed for a moment, but then seemed to decide to help her up.

Dee sat in silence as Patton made herself comfortable, staring at the sky. He leaned back a little, hands placed on their lap.

Patton chanced asking again. “What are you doing out here?” she asked.

Dee paused, contemplated. Like his answer was important, like what they were to say was to mean something. “This is my place,” he said.

“Your place?”

Dee nodded. “I am out of the way,” they said, confusing Patton even further, somehow.

Something clicked for Patton, almost. It felt like the answer was on the tip of her tongue. She remembered how Dee had told the original trio, when they had first found the house, “Stay out of my way and I’ll stay out of yours.”

It meant something, she was sure. Still, she couldn’t quite figure it out.

The younger still didn’t clarify. Silence surrounded the duo, until Dee groaned and muttered, “This is so dumb.”

“What is?”

Dee pulled his legs up to their chest, grumbling like a moody pre-teen. Maybe he was; Patton never asked their age. “Getting attached,” he answered. 

Patton tilted her head again. “Is that a bad thing? Getting attached, I mean. I think it’s… nice, to feel like you belong,” she said.

“Bold of you to assume that I even feel like I belong,” Dee said back. “Bold of you to assume there isn’t a reason to not get attached.” He curled a hand into a fist. “I need to stop doing this.”

“Stop getting attached?”

“That, and spilling everything at two in the morning to someone I might not even… see again.” Dee frowned, scowled, and looked down. 

“I’m lost,” Patton admitted. “Why wouldn’t you see me again?”

“Because I’m leaving at the end of the summer. Probably.”

Patton felt even more lost. “Why are you leaving?”

“Because they’re gonna get tired of me.”

“... My friends?”

Dee shook their head. “The people I’m staying with.”

Patton tried sifting through the random information she’d collected. “Are you in the foster system?” she asked.

Dee nodded, now. “I’m not staying long,” he said quietly. They stood carefully. The roof wasn’t a very easy place to stand, and Patton almost told him to sit back down, because it didn’t look safe. “I might even leave before the end of the summer. I don’t know.”

Patton hesitated. “Can we go back to the beginning?” she asked.

Dee looked at her, clearly silently asking what she meant.

“You said this was your place,” Patton clarified. “What does that mean?”

Dee sat back down, but closer to the edge of the roof, feet dangling. “This is my place. I found this house. And I go here to stay out of the way. And then you guys barged in.”

Patton hesitated again, unsure if she should be feeling sorry for becoming Dee’s friend. “I’m sorry,” she said anyway. “But it’s better to have people around, isn’t it?”

“Maybe at first,” Dee said. “But it’ll be a lot worse when I inevitably leave.”

The duo was silent for a few minutes. Patton didn’t really seem to know what to say, and Dee didn’t really seem like they wanted to continue this conversation.

And they didn’t. Dee continued to sit on the roof in silence. Patton wanted to say something, maybe attempt to comfort him but she didn’t know how.

She did have something to say, though, when she thought about it. “Hey,” she said, “sorry about… earlier.”

“Earlier?” Dee didn’t look at her, opting instead to look up at the stars, but they tilted his head.

Patton nodded, looking at the stars as well. “With Roman’s birthday. When we had decided to go to the pool. I think I should have remembered you when discussing it.”

“Anyone could have remembered me, but no one did,” Dee replied indifferently. They glanced at Patton, frowning when she looked down. “That wasn’t a jab at anyone. It’s just the truth.” Dee sighed, finally looking away from the stars. “I imagine I was kind of forgotten.”

“I’m sorry,” Patton repeated.

“I’m not… angry,” Dee insisted. A pause. “Maybe a little. But even so, you all had your little group before you even started to frequent this house. It would make sense to forget there was an extra person around. An extra…” He hesitated, then shook their head. “Never mind.”

“What is it?”

“It’s nothing important.”

“Well, it was important enough that you almost said something about it,” Patton said. “Isn’t what you say important?”

“Not really,” Dee said with a shrug. “But… am I… a friend?”

“You’re my friend.” Patton nodded.

“Everyone’s your friend,” Dee dismissed, looking like he felt bad about that remark shortly after. “Do the others think I’m a friend?”

“I think so.”

Dee looked at her. “Are you confident on that?”

Patton paused, thinking. “I think so,” she repeated, as an affirmation.

Dee rested their head on his knees. “That’s nice,” they murmured.

“It is.”


	14. Chapter 14

Patton giggled as she looked out the window of her room. A moving truck was parked in the driveway of the house next door. She had heard that the new neighbors had a kid around her age.

That was all she knew about them, though, but still, she was excited to meet them!

She watched as the new family started moving boxes inside. She could count two kids and two adults. She only waited a minute before going downstairs, calling out to her parents that she was leaving, before heading outside and crossing the yard.

The older kid stopped their way back to the truck when they noticed her.

“Hi!” she greeted enthusiastically. “I’m Patton.” She stuck out her hand to shake. “She/her.”

“Oh, uh,” the kid said hesitantly, shaking her hand. “I’m Virgil. He/him, I guess.”

Patton smiled. “Are you new to town?” She hadn’t seen him around before.

“Oh, yeah,” Virgil replied. “Out of state.”

“Oh, neat,” Patton said. “Do you want a tour?”

The other kid had just returned from the house to get another box from the moving van and heard the question. “You should go, bro, it’d be good to make a friend here,” they said. They jerked their thumb towards the house, where the adults were. “I’ll tell mom if you need me to.”

Virgil mostly waved them off. “Sure,” he said to Patton.

Patton smiled and started walking, with Virgil following her. “Is that your sibling?” she asked.

“Andy? Yeah, he’s my little brother. He worries too much about me, though.”

“That’s nice, though.” Virgil shrugged, but then he looked pensive, and Patton tilted her head. “Is something wrong?”

“Do you have a brother?” Virgil asked.

“No.” Patton shook her head. “Why?”

“Oh, just...” He hesitated. “Uh, my parents said your parents said they had a son.”

Patton’s smile twitched into a frown, if only for a moment. “Oh,” she said, almost deceptively casually. 

“But I guess, based on your pronouns, that’s wrong.”

Patton shrugged with a minute nod. “Actually, you know,” she started, chipper again, “pronouns aren’t an exact indicator of gender.”

Virgil furrowed his brows. “So you’re not a girl?” Patton shook her head. “So you’re...”

“Nonbinary,” Patton supplied helpfully.

“So, if you’re not a girl...,” Virgil said, clearly a little confused still, “why do you use those pronouns?”

She shrugged again, pondering. “Fits me better. I like them better. Like...” She smoothed out her frilly skirt, looking down at it, before looking back up with a smile. “Like skirts! I love wearing skirts. I like how they feel.” Patton swished her skirt as if demonstrating. “But skirts, and types of clothes in general, aren’t used by one gender exclusively. Anyone can wear a skirt.” She looked back down at her skirt before again looking up. “You know?”

“I don’t,” Virgil replied, “but... it makes sense.”

Patton had given Virgil a general tour of the town. She showed him the school, the park, some stores. She showed him the pool that had almost been the place of Roman’s birthday event, and the recreation center that her parents had a membership for, and the library she used to spend her spare time at, before she’d met Logan and Roman.

When they’d gone back home, Virgil had thanked her for the tour, but Patton now turned to him and asked, “Do you wanna meet my friends?”

“Your… your friends?”

Patton nodded eagerly.

“Like.. right now?” Virgil bit his lip, looking nervous at how sudden meeting other people may possibly be.

“Not right now,” Patton amended. “It will be much easier to meet everyone if we’re all at the house.”

“The house?”

Patton nodded, not providing any additional context or explanation. “So do you wanna?”

“Uh… sure.”

Patton smiled. “I’ll see you tomorrow morning, then.”

“So… what’s ‘the house’?” Virgil asked, on the way.

“It’s this place we found,” Patton explained. “Well, I guess it’s more a place that Roman found. But we went exploring one day, and they were a bit more… adventurous, I guess, than me and Logan were. And so we found this house where we all hang out at now.”

“Oh, cool.” Virgil nodded at her explanation. “So your friends are named Roman and Logan?”

“There’s Dee too. We didn’t know him until after we found the house, though.” Patton nodded herself. They were almost there, and she turned to Virgil to tell him so, but then her smile faded. “I’m sorry,” she said.

“What? Um, why?” Virgil looked at her. But his hands were fidgeting, fingers tapping, and his face had a certain expression.

“I don’t think sometimes, and I guess I didn’t realize that… meeting new people isn’t always fun for people.” She bit her lip. “I just dragged you out here to meet my friends.”

“I mean, you asked first.”

“Still.” She looked down. “I hadn’t really considered how you might have felt.”

“Yeah.” Virgil shrugged his shoulders. “But at least you admitted it.”

“I did do that, huh?” Patton said thoughtfully. She looked up. “Oh, we’re here!” She opened the door and stepped inside, with Virgil right behind. “I made a new friend,” she announced to the room at large. Her friends looked up from whatever they had been doing. “This is Virgil.” She gestured to the new person.

“Oh, hello,” Logan said.

“Greetings!” Roman said, standing up and walking to them. “I’m Roman.”

“Oh, uh, nice to meet you?” Virgil said.

“That’s Logan,” Roman continued, pointing at Logan, who waved a hand in greeting. “And…” Roman looked around. “What… he was just right here.”

“They left when you got up,” Logan said, looking back down at his star map.

Roman glanced over to Dee’s old room, and shrugged. “Well. I suppose you’ll meet Dee when you meet him.”

“I guess Dee isn’t too keen on meeting new people either,” Patton said, looking apologetic again.

“I’m sure they’ll come around,” Roman said. “I mean, he was okay with even me, eventually.”

“That’s true.”

Dee came back down later, but he was mistrustful of this new person, but it was fair, because he hadn’t trusted Roman, Logan, and Patton at first, either. Patton was sure that he just needed time.


	15. Chapter 15

Some time in early August, Virgil seemed tense. It was like he couldn’t get comfortable wherever he was sitting, or like there was something important to say but he couldn’t figure out the words.

“Something wrong, Virge?” Patton asked.

Virgil hesitated. “I think uh… I think I’m probably not straight,” he said.

Roman had been hanging upside down from a chair she’d found, but now she snorted. “Figures,” she said.

Virgil squinted at her. “Sorry?”

“I’m starting to think that nobody who becomes Patton’s friend can remain cishet,” Roman said, getting off the chair and sitting on the ground.

Patton opened her mouth, but then Logan said, “No, she has a point.”

“Anyway,” Roman continued. “I know exactly who you could talk to!” She looked over to Logan, as if waiting for him to finish her thought.

Logan sighed, and almost rolled his eyes, but he said, “My sibling.”

“Remy Dormir.” Roman grinned. “I”m…” A thoughtful look. “I’m pretty sure they’ve helped everyone here, actually.”

Patton tapped her chin as she thought and recounted. “Me, you, Dee…” She then turned to Logan, like she’d had a breakthrough. “Did they help you figure out you were trans too??”

“I believe so, yes,” Logan answered.

“Maybe it’s anybody who meets Remy,” Patton offered.

“No, because Virgil hasn’t met them yet,” Roman said. She grinned again. “I really do think it’s just you.”

Patton pouted at her.

“I could bring you to Remy, or bring Remy here, if you’d like to talk to them,” Logan offered to Virgil.

“Maybe?” Virgil said, chewing a thumbnail. “Not today. I need a moment. But maybe tomorrow?”

Logan just nodded.

Remy was at the house the next day. He introduced himself as ‘Remy Dormir, queer extraordinaire’ with a grin and an almost sarcastic bow.

“You really don’t need to introduce yourself like that, you know,” Logan said, but he didn’t seem too annoyed.

“Yeah, but it’s fun,” Remy said in response, grinning again and then turning to Patton and Virgil. “New kid, huh? Virgil, right?”

“Right,” Virgil said nervously. 

“And you need help figuring out your…?”

“Sexuality,” Virgil replied. “I’m uh… I guess I’m not as straight as I once thought I was.”

Remy laughed. “Happens to the best of us,” he said. “But like, the best people aren’t exactly straight. Anyway,” Remy continued. “There’s this whole spectrum of ‘not straight’ but really, it’s up to you which label you choose. Whichever makes you feel most comfortable, okay?”

Virgil nodded.

“First, there’s, you know, gay. Which is typically defined as attraction to one’s own gender, or, if gender isn’t very concrete for you, attraction to gender similar to your own.”

Virgil put some thought into that. “I mean… If I think long enough,” he said, “I probably had some… crushes on other guys, but not just them…”

“Okay, well, there’s also a few where your attraction is towards multiple genders. Bi, pan, poly…”

“What’s the difference?”

“Bisexual has a few different definitions. I like the one where it’s attraction to two or more genders. Polysexual is attraction to multiple genders; I don’t think there’s a limit for that one. And typically, pan people fall in love regardless of gender. I think. I can’t be 100% on these definitions because I’m not any of those, but I’m just going off by what I’ve read.”

Patton started to mouth something, but then shook her head. Remy looked over at her anyway.

“You good?” he asked.

“Uh… yeah,” Patton said. “I just… um…” Remy was waiting, and now Virgil was looking at her too. Patton now scratched her ear nervously. “Just… what’s romantic love supposed to feel like?”

“Honestly?” Remy said, laughing, almost. “I don’t know either.”

“You don’t know?”

“Nah. Decided not to care a while back.” Remy shrugged.

“Oh,” Patton said, and she didn’t say anything further.

“You said pan is being attracted… regardless of gender?” Virgil asked, still trying to figure out his own orientation. “Is there a difference between that and bi?”

“Some people say that they lean a certain way, when they identify as bi.”

Virgil just nodded slowly. “This… gives me a bit to think about.”

“Well, I hope you come to a conclusion that’s most comfortable for you,” Remy said sincerely. He looked between the two again. “Any other questions?”

Patton hesitated again. “Do you not fall in love?” she asked.

“Not romantically,” Remy replied with a shake of his head. “And there’s nothing wrong with that, you know.”

“So… what do you use?”

Remy paused again, looking at her. Patton wasn’t used to being looked at so curiously, but finally Remy said, “Aromantic.”

“Aromantic,” Patton repeated quietly.

“Little to no romantic attraction to others. You don’t fall in love. Not that you have to, you know.”

Patton looked down in thought. “Okay,” she said, looking up and offering a small smile. “Thanks for answering questions. Even though you were supposed to help Virgil instead…” She looked over at Virgil. “Sorry…”

“It’s good,” Virgil replied, shrugging lightly. “You deserve to have questions answered too.”

“Well, if that’s all,” Remy said, standing up. “I’m supposed to meet Toby soon.”

Logan poked his head in from the other room. “Tell xem I said hi,” he said.

“Will do, little bro.” Remy nodded. He looked at Patton and Virgil. “Everything good here?”

The duo nodded. Remy waved, and he left. 

Virgil sighed and grumbled, and mumbled something.

Patton looked over, as well as Dee and Logan. “What’s up?” she asked.

“Might need Remy Dormir again,” Virgil said.

“He said he might be coming by later,” Logan offered, and Virgil just nodded in an okay.

The door slammed open and Roman bounded in, looking quite triumphant. “Guess what I found?” she asked, holding up a portable DVD player.

Logan raised an eyebrow. “I’m assuming… a DVD player?”

“Yes!” Roman said, pointing at him and ignoring how obvious the guess was. “My father sent my brother and I to clean out the attic because we got in trouble, and I found this and asked if I could keep it.” She set it down on the run-down coffee table. “It’s battery operated so I just need to charge it when I’m at home and I can bring it here whenever I want!”

“You have a brother?” Dee asked.

Roman stopped, deflated, like she had when Patton had asked the same thing when dropping off her birthday cake. “Yeah, sure,” she said, waving the question away. “Anyway! I brought some DVDs if you guys wanted to watch anything.”

“It might be a decent way to pass time,” Logan mused.

“If you want to pass time,” Virgil said, with the attitude of someone who thought way too much about how time passed. 

Roman smiled sympathetically. “Well, it doesn’t have to be just for that. Could be just for fun.”

The group looked through the movies Roman had brought. Each teen favored a different movie, so Roman suggested a marathon of some sort.

Late afternoon, Remy showed up at the house, like Logan had said he would. 

“Virgil needs your assistance again,” Logan told him.

“Yeah?” Remy asked. “What for, this time?”

“I don’t know. He didn’t specify.”

Virgil approached Remy. “You also know about gender stuff, right?” he asked, direct and to the point.

“Right,” Remy said. “Let me guess: you’re probably not cis, either.”

“Probably not,” Virgil said, with a ‘what-can-you-do’ expression on his face.

Remy laughed. “Let’s talk about that, then.”

This time they sat away from everyone else. Patton tilted her head, watching them talk. Roman had left already, but Patton wanted to stay behind to walk home with Virgil. Similarly, Logan was waiting for Remy.

Dee was still there too, but he was sitting where they had been when Patton first met him, behind the rail of the stairs. They were watching Virgil and Remy talk, looking at them curiously, but Patton couldn’t tell if he could hear them.

Remy and Virgil talked for a while. There were a few moments where Virgil looked just the slightest bit frustrated, but Patton figured that was because whatever they were talking about was taking so long to work out.

By the time they were done talking, Dee was dozing off against the balusters of the stair rails, and Virgil looked no more satisfied than when they had started. Remy nodded at something Virgil said, looking a little apologetic, before saying something else. Virgil just nodded and shoved his hands into his pockets, and they both walked back to the front door, where Patton and Logan sat waiting.

Virgil tilted his head. “Why’d you stay?” he asked Patton.

Patton rubbed her eye, holding back a yawn. “I wanted to walk home with you,” she said, standing.

“You didn’t have to.”

Patton smiled. “Wanted to. Are you done?”

Virgil tilted his head back a little, but then he shrugged. “I guess. Ready to go home?”

Patton nodded, glancing back at Dee, to check if he was awake. They were rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, but they were awake nonetheless. She waved goodbye to him, going outside with the others.

Patton waved by to Logan and Remy after they had walked back into town, walking their separate ways home.

Patton looked up at Virgil as they walked. “Are you okay?” she asked.

“Uh, yeah,” Virgil said, glancing back down at her. “Why?”

“You looked kind of irritated a few times when you were talking to Remy.”

“Oh, that.” Virgil didn’t speak for a few moments, then shrugged. “I just wasn’t having much success figuring something out.”

“Remy hadn’t helped?”

“Well, they tried to help, at least. But even if they know a lot, they don’t know everything, and I guess they didn’t know how to help me.”

“Can I try to help?”

“... I guess it can’t hurt to try,” Virgil admitted. “Maybe after dinner you can come over and we can talk or something.”

Patton smiled and nodded.

“Hey, here’s something,” Patton said. It was later, and she and Virgil were looking at things online. “It’s a little funny, though, because it’s a little bit of a contradiction.”

“Novigender?” Virgil raised an eyebrow. 

“Yeah, apparently it’s like, not being able to describe your gender, or having trouble with it. Not being able to put a word to your gender.” Patton hummed, and then glanced at Virgil.

“That’s--” Virgil huffed, and then he laughed. “That’s… that’s a relief.”

“Is it?”

Virgil nodded, running a hand through his hair. “Not having a term to describe it was a little stressful, frankly.”

“That’s understandable,” Patton said, nodding.


	16. Chapter 16

When Patton arrived at the house, most of her friends were outside. “What’s up?” she asked.

“They’re up on the roof,” Roman said, pointing.

Patton looked up, and saw Dee sitting on the roof. He wasn’t doing anything concerning or bad, but Dee didn’t usually go on the roof during the day. 

Patton quickly made a decision. “I’m going to go check on him,” she said, making her way into the house. She went upstairs and to the window from last time, gripping the tiles of the roof as she tried to maneuver her way up there. Dee didn’t offer any help, but she eventually got it.

She stood on wobbly legs as she got closer to Dee and sat next to them.

“Hey,” she said.

Dee looked over, but didn’t really reply. Instead he looked over the edge of the roof and asked, “Why are they all just standing there?”

“Well, you’re not usually on the roof when we get here,” Patton said. “Maybe they’re concerned.”

Dee only hm’d.

“Why are you up here?”

Dee frowned. “Do you remember a few weeks ago?” they asked. “You couldn’t sleep. And then you were like, oh I know, I’m going to go and bother Dee, except you didn’t know that I would be here, and I was here to stay out of the way.”

Patton took a moment to follow what he was saying, but then nodded.

“I was right.”

“About having to leave?”

Dee nodded, still not looking up. “My last day is the day before school starts up again.”

Patton bit her lip. “That’s a little unfair,” she said.

“Well. I guess.” Dee shrugged. They stood and started climbing back down, and Patton followed him. Dee walked down the steps and to the front of the house, where they opened the door and said, “You guys look kind of silly just standing out there.”

Roman pretended to look offended. “Well, we weren’t invited in,” he joked.

“Are you guys vampires?”

“Oh, I would love to be a vampire,” Roman said, stepping inside.

“Same,” Virgil added.

“Being a vampire sounds awfully inconvenient,” Logan said.

“It’s not inconvenient if you’re always up at night anyway.” Virgil tapped his temple.

“Maybe, but you can’t eat garlic.”

Virgil swore. “You’re right.”

“We really can’t give up garlic bread,” Roman said, nodding so solemnly it almost made everyone laugh.

This prompted a discussion of foods one was willing to give up to be a creature of the night.

“I could do without, like, mangoes, you know?” Roman said.

“But I love mangoes,” Patton said, pouting.

“Hey Pat,” Virgil said, fake-casually. He said it around the others, out loud. Patton wondered if that was intentional, if maybe pretending to talk to just Patton helped ease anxiety about having to tell everyone something. “Um, what do you think about neopronouns?”

Patton furrowed her brows. “Neopronouns?” she asked. She looked to Logan for assistance.

Logan barely glanced up from his book as he defined. “New pronouns, usually pronouns that aren’t she, he, or they. Neo means new. But new is relative.”

“So… basically just… pronouns that aren’t that common?”

“I suppose that’s one way to describe it,” Logan replied.

Patton turned back to Virgil to answer the question. “I guess I don’t think anything of them,” she said. “Why?”

“Um…” Virgil hesitated, the fake-casualness wavering. “Well, I didn’t think that any of the usual pronouns fit, so I looked for other ones.”

“What do you want us to call you, then?”

“I’d like to use voi/void pronouns and not… not anything else.”

Patton smiled a little. “Sounds fancy,” she said. “Teach me how that goes?”

Virgil nodded and started explaining. The others were listening as well, glancing at void every so often. There were a few questions, but everybody started to use the right pronouns for void. Voi seemed content with how this had turned out.

“Are you happy?” Patton asked as she walked home with void. 

Virgil nodded. “Pretty happy,” voi said, and it was clear in voids step.

“Good.”

“I can’t believe school starts next week,” Roman lamented.

“Oh, it does,” Logan said. “I’ll need to remind Remy about school supplies.”

“Next week?” Patton asked, frowning.

“I feel like I should have done more this summer,” Virgil said, more to voidself.

“What do you mean?” Patton looked at void.

“You ever feel like… you’re wasting time? LIke you’re never doing enough or spending time the way you should.”

Patton hummed in response. “Sometimes.”

“I just… feel like that a lot. Usually when something is ending. Like summer.” Virgil rubbed voids face with both hands. “I think it’s the anxiety.”

“Do you have anxiety?”

Virgil just nodded.

“Don’t worry, Virgil,” Roman said, and Virgil looked at him as if to say, ‘That’s what anxiety just is’, but Roman still continued. “I can assure you, any time spent with friends is time well spent.”

“That’s a nice thought,” Virgil murmured.

Dee had been silent throughout this whole exchange. He hadn’t said anything about time, or about school. Instead they frowned, turning away slightly from the group with a small sigh. Patton almost hadn’t noticed, but when she glanced at him, she remembered what they had said before. That he’d be leaving the day before school started.

Dee still hadn’t told the others. And she wondered, a bit, if they were ever going to tell the others, or if he was just going to leave without mentioning it. If they were going to leave, and if anyone would expect him to be at school with them.

She wanted to tell someone.

“Are you okay?” she asked instead.

Dee didn’t really answer, at least not for a few moments. “I don’t know,” they said, but he was still frowning and still glaring at the ground. “Why… Why should I care anyway?” Their words and grumbling quickly devolved into muttering.

“There’s nothing wrong with caring,” Patton said softly.

“There is when it hurts me,” Dee replied. “Everything is wrong with caring when it just ends up with me feeling lonelier and more isolated than usual.” He blinked rapidly, like they were trying to get rid of tears. He took a deep breath.

Patton opened her mouth to say something, but she didn’t really know what to say. She didn’t know what they were feeling. She wasn’t in his shoes; she had never experienced what they had to experience. She would never be able to fully understand what he was going through.

She hugged herself. “Do you want to keep in touch?” she asked. It was the closest thing to a solution she could offer.

“Neither of us have phones,” Dee pointed out.

“We can find a way.”

Dee was quiet. “That’s a nice thought.”

“It is, isn’t it?”

They had been speaking quietly, to the side and almost away from the others. No one else’s attention was on them, until a sniffle from Dee caught Roman’s attention.

Roman glanced over, offhandedly, but looked again when he’d processed what he saw. “Uh…” He’d accidentally gotten the attention of Logan and Virgil now. “Are you… good?”

“It’s not important right now,” Dee said, scrunching up their nose.

“Well, I mean… I don’t think I’ve ever seen you really upset… like, aside from the time you thought it was your fault that Logan stepped on a nail.” Roman raised an eyebrow, but he looked concerned, even.

“I’m not upset,” Dee replied, blatantly lying. “I’m just… allergic to idiots.” It was a dumb remark, juvenile even, but it almost made himself laugh.

Roman raised an eyebrow, opened his mouth to probably make a retort, but he chuckled despite himself. “Maybe you need some allergy medicine, then, if you’re going to be spending the rest of the year with us,” Roman said, almost teasing.

Dee’s smirk dropped, and they blinked rapidly again. He glanced up at Patton for a moment, like they were saying that he was finally going to explain and tell the truth. “I won’t be,” they said quietly, and he wasn’t even sure if the others had caught that, but they really didn’t want to repeat it.

“What?” Dee could hear the confusion and concern in Roman’s voice. Not confusion on not knowing what was said, but what was happening.

“I’m leaving next week.” Dee hugged himself.

“Why?” Logan asked. His head was tilted, and there was a slight frown, but a thoughtful one as he regarded the younger.

Dee bit their lip. “Reasons.”

“Reasons?”

“It doesn’t matter the reasons,” Dee said, trying not to snap. “It’s just going to happen. I’m going to leave.”

“And you don’t want to.”

Dee rubbed his eyes, rolling them. “No, I absolutely can’t wait.”

Logan leaned to Virgil real quick. “Sarcasm?” he asked. Voi nodded, and he nodded back, before turning back to Dee. He regarded them quietly, curiously. “If it’s any consolation,” he said, “I suppose… I could consider you a friend. Someone whose absence I’ll notice.”

Dee stared at Logan for a moment, but then he laughed. “That’s a real weird way to say ‘I’ll miss you’.”

This time Logan rolled his eyes. “So I may need to work on how I express my care for others. Sue me.”

Dee smirked. “An idiom. I’m so proud.” Their face wasn’t as red as it had been, and his voice was a bit more clear. It seemed that Logan’s attempt at being sincere was doing a good job at distracting them from what had made him upset, for the time being.


	17. Chapter 17

Patton had an idea. It wasn’t one that she had thought of previously, but it was something that had occurred to her as she watched Dee interact with the others after he had gotten upset.

Dee might be leaving, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t remember them and have fun while getting around to it.

She had asked Remy for their help getting everything at the house. She had asked for some money from her parents for a personal project and had bought assorted paints and brushes at the store.

When she had arrived at the house early that morning, she was surprised to see Dee was already there, but only a little. She instead wondered how early he tended to go to the house, if they were always trying to stay out of the way, and wondered how late he stayed.

Dee must have heard her bring things in, because they had sat behind the stair rails to watch, quiet but curious.

Patton thanked Remy for their help and waved when they left, then started setting the paint next to each other and started looking at the brushes, as if checking their quality. She smiled, glancing up at Dee.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“I just thought we could have a little fun,” she said. Since you’re leaving tomorrow, she didn’t say.

Dee walked down the stairs to get a better look at what Patton had brought. “Fun?” they asked.

Patton gestured to the empty walls. “Since this house most likely won’t like, be used. It’s unfinished and I haven’t seen anyone come by to finish it.” Then she paused. “Wait, does this count as vandalism?”

Dee smirked a little, picking up a brush and examining it. “If it does, that’s even better.”

The others arrived after a bit. Roman and Logan seemed to understand immediately what was going on. Roman rolled their sleeves up, clearly a little excited at the artistic endeavor.

Virgil arrived only a half hour later. Dee, Patton, and Roman had already started painting. Logan seemed to be assessing the wall in front of him, trying to form a mental sketch, to envisage his idea before putting a brush to the wall.

“Is this vandalism?” Virgil asked.

“God, I hope so,” Dee said, with a little laugh.

“I think that depends on a few factors,” Logan said, concentration momentarily broken. “Vandalism is usually defined as destruction or defacement of public or private property. We’re not… exactly destroying anything, and I honestly don’t know if this would count as public or private property. I don’t know if there’s a word for something not quite public or private.” He went quiet again, still staring at the wall with a furrowed brow.

“Well, for all intents and purposes, let’s call it vandalism,” Roman said. “Sounds more fun.”

“You’re all so eager to participate in vandalism,” Patton said.

“I mean, there’s not exactly much to do in this town,” Dee said with a shrug, dipping his paintbrush into more yellow paint.

“That’s fair,” Patton admitted. She looked over at Dee’s painting. It looked like the ends of a snake. But it didn’t make sense to her why Dee wouldn’t start the image at the top. She observed what the others were painting too. Logan seemed to have finally decided what to paint, grabbing one of the larger and wider brushes before dipping it in the midnight blue paint. Roman had taken to designing a castle. Patton couldn’t figure out Virgil’s.

Dee had taken off their yellow gloves and rolled up his sleeves to paint. Patton rarely saw them without his gloves, so it wasn’t something Patton was used to. But they seemed happy.

Patton was glad.

“Since you’re leaving tomorrow,” she said at the end of the day, when the sun had started to set and the walls were painted, “does that mean you’re not coming to the house tomorrow?”

Dee shrugged, looking around at all the paintings. “I don’t know,” he replied. “Maybe. To say goodbye. But I’m not one for goodbyes.”

“Oh.”

Dee pulled on their gloves and nodded. He didn’t speak again until Patton was almost out the door. “I think I will.” 


	18. Chapter 18

When Patton, Logan, Roman, and Virgil arrived at the house the following morning, it was empty. Well, not quite empty. It still had the supplies from the day before, but they were neatly stacked and placed in one of the corners.

But nobody saw Dee.

Patton couldn’t help but feel slightly disappointed. She really had been hoping to see him one last time, to say--

“Hey.”

The door had opened, and Dee was there.

“Oh!” Patton said. “Hi. I thought you weren’t one for goodbyes.”

“I’m not. But I thought you all were.” Dee glanced between the friends. Patton wasn’t the only one happy they could say their goodbyes. 

“Well, to be fair, you can’t just leave people who care about you without saying farewell,” Roman said.

Dee smiled, just a little. “Sounds nice,” they murmured.

“What does?”

Dee just shook his head. “Really is just a quick goodbye, though,” they added. “I was only able to sneak away for a bit. “I’m supposed to leave in like an hour.”

“Are you never coming back?” Logan asked, curiously. 

“Maybe…” Dee smiled, hugged himself. “I’ve never had that asked before.”

“Well, hopefully we’ll be seeing you again, at some point” Virgil said. 

Dee nodded, turning to the door. They paused, like he didn’t really actually want to leave. “Oh, right,” they said, turning back to Patton, handing her a strip of paper. “You can share this if you want. I just wanted to make sure you had it.”

Patton took the folded strip of paper carefully, like it was of great importance.

Dee took one good look around, nodded, and left with a wave. 

“What did he give you?” Roman asked, looking over Patton’s shoulder.

Patton unfolded the small piece of paper. It was an email. She smiled. Maybe they really could keep in touch. 

Patton hummed to herself as she went through her old morning routine. She hadn’t really gone through a proper routine in a while, but now that school was back, she could resume hers.

She was starting the year different. She had learned new things about herself and made new friends.

She called a goodbye to her parents as she walked out the door, heading next door where she waited for Virgil. Virgil waved goodbye to voids parents as well, walking with Patton down the street, where they met with Logan, and further on they met with Roman.

“Are you ready?” Roman asked, clipping a purple hair extension to the front of her hair.   
“With you guys?” Patton said, smiling. “I’m ready for anything.”


End file.
